The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Shape of Fear, by Elia W. Peattie

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Title: The Shape of Fear

Author: Elia W. Peattie

Posting Date: November 20, 2008 [EBook #1876]
Release Date: September, 1999

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SHAPE OF FEAR ***

Produced by Judy Boss

THE SHAPE OF FEAR

AND OTHER GHOSTLY TALES

By Elia Wilkinson Peattie

Original Transcriber's Note:

I have omitted signature indicators and italicization of the
running heads. In addition, I have made the following changes
to the text:

PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
156 1 where as were as
156 4 mouth mouth.
165 5 Wedgwood Wedgewood
166 9 Wedgwood Wedgewood
167 6 surperfluous superfluous
172 11 every ever
173 17 Bogg Boggs

CONTENTS

THE SHAPE OF FEAR

ON THE NORTHERN ICE

THEIR DEAR LITTLE GHOST

A SPECTRAL COLLIE

THE HOUSE THAT WAS NOT

STORY OF AN OBSTINATE CORPSE

A CHILD OF THE RAIN

THE ROOM OF THE EVIL THOUGHT

STORY OF THE VANISHING PATIENT

THE PIANO NEXT DOOR

AN ASTRAL ONION

FROM THE LOOM OF THE DEAD

A GRAMMATICAL GHOST

THE SHAPE OF FEAR

TIM O'CONNOR--who was descended from the O'Conors with one N---- started
life as a poet and an enthusiast. His mother had designed him for
the priesthood, and at the age of fifteen, most of his verses had an
ecclesiastical tinge, but, somehow or other, he got into the newspaper
business instead, and became a pessimistic gentleman, with a literary
style of great beauty and an income of modest proportions. He fell in
with men who talked of art for art's sake,--though what right they had
to speak of art at all nobody knew,--and little by little his view of
life and love became more or less profane. He met a woman who sucked
his heart's blood, and he knew it and made no protest; nay, to the great
amusement of the fellows who talked of art for art's sake, he went the
length of marrying her. He could not in decency explain that he had
the traditions of fine gent